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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431885">fighting fire with fire but instead of fire it's different kinds of animals (Zoo AU)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aromere/pseuds/Aromere'>Aromere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>JuliNeun fics for the hungry, hungry senyuu fan [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Senyuu. (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Co-workers, Fluff, M/M, dezember shows up for like two lines, zoo au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:54:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431885</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aromere/pseuds/Aromere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>neun grows sick of his admittedly hot co-worker bullying him and decides to take revenge. because that's obviously the right course of action</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Juli Sieben/Neun September</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>JuliNeun fics for the hungry, hungry senyuu fan [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>fighting fire with fire but instead of fire it's different kinds of animals (Zoo AU)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i came up with this idea like mid-january and procrastinated it so much despite support from several people but here it is babey i always deliver eventually. also i have no idea how to tag please help me</p><p>alternatively titled "i've had it with these motherfuckin snakes in my motherfuckin zoo"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was one thing having to get to the zoo so early every day - slipping in through the employee entrance at 6am for weeks and months on end could really take a toll on a guy, y’know, <em>Dezember</em> - but it was an entirely different thing to have to pass through the reptile area <em>every day</em>. The large room was dark all throughout the day, the only reprieve coming from the dim white lights that lay above the many glass enclosures. It was humid too, and the feeling of a hundred reptilian eyes focusing on Neun sent a shiver running down his spine.</p><p>The worst thing about the stupid reptile area was its equally stupid caretaker, one Juli Sieben, whose piercing grey eyes made him seem like another creature in the poor lighting. Thank god that Neun never had to see them, as they were always closed in glee whenever the worstest thing about the reptile area occurred, which was-</p><p>“Hey Neun, watch out!” was the only warning Neun got every day before a snake that was definitely maybe twice his height was suddenly thrust into his face. His saving grace from being bitten was that Juli probably didn’t want to get fired as it stopped a mere inch from making unwanted contact. A heart attack every morning was still no way to live, and Neun constantly liked to point this out.</p><p>After recovering from an embarrassing yelp of surprise, a small blush making itself known, Neun huffed and just so happened to put some distance between himself and his handsome snake-wielding maniac of a coworker. </p><p>
  <em>...handsome?</em>
</p><p>“Juli, you should take more pride in your work and treat your co-workers with respect. I’m sure Dezember would be mad if he had to find someone new to take care of the bears because someone gave the last caretaker a heart attack,” he declared with a pointed glare, the red fading from his face as he carried on through the room. Juli snickered and draped the snake back around his body, heading toward the backroom door. “You seem awfully stuck on hearts lately, Neun… is there someone on your mind?” </p><p>Upon seeing another explosive blush on Neun’s face, Juli full-on guffawed as he slunk away, the sweet sound becoming muffled as the door to the backroom swung shut, lock clicking in place. Neun stalked back into the daylight, trying to will his blush down before another co-worker could spot him and make his day any worse. Worser. One day he would get his revenge.</p><p>At least he could find solace in his fluffy companions, and greater solace in the fact that the zoo would be closed today in preparation for the oncoming week of school trips and family outings that would be sure to drain him of all his energy - his job was to care for the bears and make sure they didn’t eat people, not spout off the same random bear facts to semi-enthused kids who would rather pick on him for his small size and call him bear man for wearing his favourite bear hat on top of the boring caretaker’s uniform and ask if he was the bear food and annoy the bears and--</p><p>In short, he was glad there would be no visitors today, and with that relief he let himself into the bear enclosure, getting around to laying out their food and giving them some affection - Neun didn’t like the idea of keeping them captive, but if they were going to be, he would try to make life for them as enjoyable as possible. A loud rapping at the door of the enclosure snapped him out of a trance, and he realised he’d spent a pretty long time just surrounded by bears and the wet sounds of the bears eating (it was actually pretty gross in hindsight, but Neun could <em>bear</em> it). When he flicked his eyes to the door and began to head toward it, he heard Dezember’s voice come through in an almost bored tone. <em>Outrageous of the director…</em></p><p>“Oi Neun, you’ve got a shipment in. I’m sure you can deal with it, considering your… area of work.” Neun spluttered and raced for the door to complain, but when flung it open, Dezember was nowhere to be found. He mumbled out a quiet “What the fuck..?” as he glanced around for a sight of the shadowy man, closing the door to the enclosure behind him. Neun grumbled and made his way to the front gate, but two things crossed his mind as he walked:</p><p>1), considering it was a shipment for <em>him</em>, it was likely to be heavy crates of bear food and other necessary resources, which Neun would definitely struggle with moving all the way to the bear enclosure, and 2), heading to the front gate meant going through the dreaded reptile room again. At least that came with the benefit of seeing Juli again.</p><p>
  <em>Benefit? What? He’s probably just gonna harass me again…</em>
</p><p>Neun smacked his cheeks lightly and kept striding toward his reptilian doom, yet on the way he thought to himself a devilish plan to finally knock Juli down a peg or two. He giggled to himself at the thought of Juli being the embarrassed one for once.</p><p> </p><p>Juli whistled quietly to himself as he bustled about his area, cooing and babying every snake he happened to see. However, the sound of footsteps entering the enclosure gained his attention, so he relinquished his hold on his current friend and turned to greet the entrant, silently begging that it wasn’t Dezember coming to give him some dumb task.</p><p>He was greeted with the sight of Neun holding his cute little bear hat in his hands, looking nervously everywhere aside from Juli himself. He simply eyed down the smaller one, a questioning look enveloping his features. It was one thing to see Neun approach him more than twice a day, and another to see Neun approach him <em>willingly</em>. Neun mumbled something incomprehensible as his face heated up, and the sheer shock of the situation made Juli stare, mouth agape for perhaps a few moments longer than he should.</p><p>“What did you say?”</p><p>“I asked if, um… you could help me, uh... bring some things over to my area? The boxes are too heavy for me, and you’re the only other person I can ask right now…”</p><p>Neun spoke louder that time, actually meeting his eyes, cheeks burning red at the fact he was essentially begging his tormentor for help. Juli’s eyes lit up with glee as he took in the sight before him, burning it into his brain so he would never forget it. <em>At least I have something to cheer me up if I’m ever sad now!</em> He hummed for a long time, enjoying watching Neun squirm before letting out an overly-exasperated sigh.</p><p>“Well, I <em>suppose</em> I could help my cute little cub…”</p><p>At his words, Neun almost seemed to spring up, the colour still evident in his cheeks, and though he grumbled a bit at the choice of words, he led the way to the pick up area. Once there, he busied himself with picking up anything small, whilst Juli shouldered all the heavier stuff - even though he looked no stronger than Neun, he was known amongst the zoo workers as having draconic strength, and he easily plodded along behind the other, throwing a few teasing remarks as he did so.</p><p> </p><p>When they arrived at the large enclosure, Juli set down the heavy box and let out a sigh of relief, watching as Neun fiddled around with the door before it swung open, and he turned to face his devilish coworker. He pointed inside the enclosure, to which Juli panicked slightly.</p><p>“They go in the back of the enclosure… I’m sorry to put you through this, but surely someone strong like you isn’t afraid of the bears, right? They’re harmless, I promise!”</p><p>Juli warily eyed the bears lazing about the space, and then looked back at Neun. He could have sworn he saw a glimmer in the other’s eye, as if there was some deeper meaning to all this, but he shrugged it off with a scoff, puffing out his chest as he hoisted the box back into his possession, marching bravely into the room with only one…</p><p>...only one exit, which just slammed shut behind him with a click, waking the bears from their midday slumber. The box dropped from his hands in a moment of panic, and he dashed back to the door, a slight feeling of dread settling in his stomach as he attempted to open it, to no avail. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he had a slight fear of bears. It wasn’t a phobia, it was completely rational of course - <em>bears are fucking scary, y’know!</em></p><p>“Uh, Neun, I think you might have closed the door on accident?” he laughed nervously as he fiddled with the door in the small chance it may magically open, “I think the bears are pretty hungry and you know it’s not my job to feed them! It’s yours!” his voice became more flustered when he saw one stand up in his peripheral, “So I think you should come in here and do your job!”</p><p>His pleading was met with an (admittedly) adorable evil laugh. Smugness came emanating off the bear boy in waves, seeping through the door and annoying Juli to his core. “Why would I let you out so easily? I, personally, think it’s time you finally got a taste of your own medicine.” And with that he laughed again, leaving Juli to think about his choices. He could…</p><p>1) Climb over the fence<br/>
2) Trick Neun into coming inside<br/>
3) ...beg Neun to open the door <em>oh god why are they moving</em></p><p>Options 1 and 2 were off the table, of course. Despite his strength, Juli wasn’t very acrobatic, and climbing a fence five times his size seemed unlikely even without being extremely scared - and it seemed Neun was taking inordinate pleasure from this, which meant he would probably wait until the last moment before letting him free. If the other would actually let him not get mauled by bears, that is.</p><p>With his pride and minutes to live a bear-free life quickly running out, he began pounding on the door, voice escalating to a wail as the bears slowly inched their way across the vast enclosure. “Okay Neun! You can let me out now! I’ve seen the error of my ways! I p-promise I won’t scare you anymore! Please let me out!” There was a moment of silence before a teasing response came.</p><p>“I don’t think that’s enough, y’know… maybe you could talk about how cool I am, or something…” The small giggle that followed simultaneously made Juli seethe and swoon internally as he quickly glanced back toward the approaching danger. “Okay, okay! I think- no you <em>are</em> cool! Really cool! And strong, and a really good zookeeper!” He let out a yelp and began hitting the door harder as they got within a few metres. “You’re also really funny! And cute! Wait no, I-” When he turned this time, there was barely a few feet between himself and the bears, which led to him letting out a sob, and then he was suddenly face first on the ground.</p><p>Sensing hard rock instead of grass, he scrambled forward to safety, turning to glare at Neun through teary eyes as the other placated the bears and closed the door. Juli huffed as he stood up, dusting himself off and trying to look dignified after those events. Neun had a pleased smile on his face, though inside he did feel a bit guilty at exploiting the other’s fear as he did. “So what was that about me being cute?”</p><p>Juli’s eyes widened as his cheeks blazed red. He turned around to try and hide his face, though he realised the tips of his ears betrayed him when he heard more gentle laughter. He scoffed, wiping his face, muttering “That was just to get you to open the door, I don’t actually think that!” </p><p>He began to make his way back to his reptilian haven but he heard an accusatory “Why are you blushing so much then?” which caused him to quicken his pace and definitely not turn back to defend his blatant behavior. Upon receiving no response, Neun shouted a hearty “See you tomorrow!” </p><p> </p><p>When Neun arrived at work the next day, he dreaded it to an alarming degree. Not because of what happened the day before, but because it was monday, and that meant having to deal with... <em>children</em>. Just the thought made him shiver in disgust. To his delight though, he got to come into work an hour later than usual, as Dezember had gracefully let him know. Something about doing final checks and prep himself.</p><p>By the time he had reached the reptile enclosure with the intent of teasing Juli again, he noticed that the place was flooded with children and a handful of adults, most likely some kind of school trip that no one had been warned about <em>again</em>. Juli himself was swarmed by children as he perched a snake over his shoulders, most likely trying to impress them by making himself seem fearless.</p><p>When they locked eyes, however, Juli blushed fiercely and turned around slightly, which of course drew the children’s attention to what he was looking at. Neun smiled as he spoke without thinking, hollering “See you at break, cutie!” which prompted the children to ask a horde of <em>Mr Snake is he your boyfriend?</em>-style questions, making Juli shrink further into the comfort of the snake wrapped around him. By the time Neun was out of earshot, Juli mumbled to himself “...not yet at least…”</p>
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